to a hand's breadth of shingle lying between the rocks, "but you will
get wet. It will be better for you to mount up here."

I fastened both of my hands tightly round one of the upper rungs, before
lifting my feet from the unsteady prow of the boat. But the ladder once
climbed, the rest of the ascent was easy. I walked on up a zigzag path,
cut in the face of the cliff, until I gained the summit, and sat down to
wait for Tardif and his comrade. I could not have fled to a securer
hiding-place. So long as my money held out, I might live as peacefully
and safely as any fugitive had ever lived.

For a little while I sat looking out at the wild and beautiful scene
before me, which no words can tell and no fancy picture to those who
have never seen it. The white foam of the waves was so near, that I
could see the rainbow colors playing through the bubbles as the sun
shone on them. Below the clear water lay a girdle of sunken rocks,
pointed as needles, and with edges as sharp as swords, about which the
waves fretted ceaselessly, drawing silvery lines about their notched and
dented ridges. The cliffs ran up precipitously from the sea, carved
grotesquely over their whole surface into strange and fantastic shapes;
while the golden and gray lichens embroidered them richly, and bright
sea-flowers, and stray tufts of grass, lent them the most vivid and
gorgeous hues. Beyond the channel, against the clear western sky, lay
the island of Guernsey, rising like a purple mountain out of the opal
sea, which lay like a lake between us, sparkling and changing every
minute under the light of the afternoon sun.

But there was scarcely time for the exquisite beauty of this scene to
sink deeply into my heart just then. Before long I heard the tramp of
Tardif and his comrade following me; their heavy tread sent down the